White chocolate & strawberry marquise + strawberry sauce

My very best part of a Dutch summer has to be the abundance of Dutch grown strawberries in the supermarkets and on farmers markets. I love the months June, July and August where you can easily pick up a box of big juicy red strawberries for a few Euros.

While strawberries from Spain are OK, Dutch strawberries just have so much more taste and when you pick up a box and give it a sniff you can tell that they are of a better quality and taste. I love them just on their own, freshly washed and the tops cut off, no need for anything else. But sometimes I like to get creative and try some different recipes. Here is a nice summer party recipe that is simple to make, requires only a few ingredients and is great for parties as it is made a few days in advance and left to chill in the fridge.

White chocolate & strawberry marquise

Ingredients

• 10-12 sponge fingers (lange vingers)
• 3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (vers geperst sinaasappelsap)
• 300g white chocolate, broken up (witte chocolade)
• 25g unsalted butter (ongezouten roomboter)
• 200ml double cream (slagroom)
• 1 tbsp icing sugar (poedersuiker)
• 250g strawberries (Hollandse aardbeien)

Take a loaf tin (approx 1 litre or 25cm long) and put a double layer of cling film inside, allowing it to overhang the edges so you can pull the finished cake out later. Arrange the sponge fingers across the bottom and sprinkle the fresh orange juice evenly over them. Put the broken up chocolate in a heatproof bowl with the butter and microwave at medium heat (800W approx) for approx 1½ to 2 minutes, gently stirring it halfway through. Whisk the cream with the icing sugar until it holds its shape (soft peaks stage). Fold in the melted chocolate into the cream until it is evenly mixed. Spoon half of the chocolate cream mixture into the tin. Select 12-16 even sized strawberries (if they are very big cut them in half), cut off the top of the strawberries and put a layer of them on top of the chocolate cream mixture, pressing them down gently. Spoon over the remaining chocolate cream mixture and smooth out the top. Fold the overhanging cling film over the pudding and allow to chill for at least 24 hours in the fridge (if you can, give it 2 days to set fully). To serve, use the cling film to pull the dessert out of the loaf tin, cut into thick slices and serve with some fresh strawberries, and if you like some homemade strawberry sauce.

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

This simple homemade strawberry sauce is delicious and much better than what you get from a jar. It goes really well with the cake recipe on page 12, but also drizzled over ice cream, waffles etc.

Ingredients

• 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (vers geperst sinaasappelsap)
• 1 tbsp icing sugar (poedersuiker)
• 125g strawberries (Hollandse aardbeien)

Wash and remove the tops from the strawberries and roughly chop them up. Put them in a food processor (or use a hand blender) with the icing sugar and orange juice. Blitz until smooth and pass through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Use right away or chill until needed, it will keep for up to a week when stored in an air tight container in the fridge.